The Growth and Yield of Stevia - ijsat

International Journal of Science and Advanced Technology (ISSN 2221-8386)

Volume 5 No 1 January 2015

http://www.ijsat.com

The Growth and Yield of Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni) Grown on Organically Amended Sandy Medium Wan Noranida Wan Mohd Noor* Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology UiTM Melaka (Jasin Campus), 77300 Merlimau, Melaka, Malaysia [email protected] Nordiana Ibrahim Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology UiTM Melaka (Jasin Campus), 77300 Merlimau, Melaka, Malaysia [email protected] NurFadhlina Zainal Abedin Faculty of Applied Science UiTM Negeri Sembilan, 72000 Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia [email protected]

Abstract—The purpose of this study was to determine suitable medium that give best growth performance of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni. The experiment was conducted under open rain shelter at Universiti Teknologi MARA, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The organic medium used were empty fruit bunch (EFB) compost, chicken manure and sugarcane fibre.The growth parameter taken included number of leaves, plant height and stem diameter of stevia, while for yield parameter was fresh weight and dry weight of stevia leaves. All the parameters were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). The results show that there are significant different in the number of leaves, plant height, stem diameter, fresh and dry leaves of stevia planted on different organic medium. Stevia plants grown on sandy soil mixed with 10% EFB compost and 10% chicken manure indicate the best growth in term of plant height, stem diameter and leaves production. From this study, it provides information for further research on the effect of organic medium to economic yield, photosynthesis rate and the content of rebaudioside A (RA) and stevioside (STV) in leaves.

Stevia are sweet leaf, honey leaf and sweet herb. Stevia, botanically name as Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is one from the 154 members of genus stevia that comes from family Asteracea Stevia extract is much sweeter compared other sugars. The sweet stevio glycosides (SGs) of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni extracted from its leaves are considered as possible sugar substitutes. Every species of stevia containing sweetening compound, but S. rebaudiana is the sweetest among all [4].There are eight groups of active compound namely as steviol glycosides (sweetening properties) that are the source of sweet taste in stevia that can be divided into: stevioside, steviobioside,dulcoside,and rebaudiosides A, B, C, D, and E [4, 2]. An extraction of stevia known as stevioside is range between 100 to 300 times sweeter than table sugar and thenatural form of stevia is approximately 20 to 30 times sweeter [5]. Stevia is herbaceous perennial plant and endemic shrub that grow up to one meter. Small flowers are white in color with pale purple throatand arranged in the form of small corymbs (formed from 2-6 florets) [9]. The root had an extensive root system and elliptic leaves produced from brittle stems [1]. Stem is woody and upper surface of the leaf slightly glandular pubescent. An elliptical leaves have alternate arrangement. The useful part of this plant is their leaves.

Keywords; Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, sweeteners, organic medium, growth performance I.

INTRODUCTION

Method of propagation, day length and agronomic practices affect the glycoside levels of Stevia leaves [3]. Glycosides accumulation is produced by delayed their flowering (in a long day environment as vegetative stage is longer). Organic practices produce significantly higher in glycosides level compared to conventional practices [6],

Stevia, is another sugar alternative that has caused great interest in some researchers and food additive producer. Stevia origin from Paraguay and Brazil which is the leaves had been used as sweetening essence for tea [8] and commercially produced in Paraguay, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Thailand, China and South East Asia. The other names of 14



http://www.ijsat.com especially in the content of Rebaudioside A (RA); and incorporating organic fertilizer with decomposed Stevia rebaudiana dregs lead to a significantly higher economic benefit compared with others [10]. There were different in the type of nutrients released from the fertilizer, which is it based on the form of inorganic (chemical), organic and biofertilizer (by using microbes). Stevia can grow on sandy soils, just like in its natural habitat [7]. II. EXPERIMENTAL

Stem diameter (Figure 3): Stevia planted on T7 (10% chicken manure + 10% EFB compost) medium has the biggest average ofstem diameter, followed by stevia grown on T5 (10% EFB compost + 10% sugarcane fibre) and T6 (10% chicken manure + 10% sugarcane fibres). Based on analysis statistic (Table1), all treatments used are significant different with the number of leaves, plant height and stem diameter.

A. Study area The main material, Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni seedling aged of three weeks were used in this research. The research was conducted under open rain shelter at UiTM Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan. B.Research Design In this experiment, the seedlings were grown in different organic medium with seven replications for each treatment. One of the treatments identified as controlled treatment and the other six treatments as follow: 1. T1 : 100% sandy soil (control) 2. T2 : 80% sandy soil + 20% EFB compost 3. T3 : 80% sandy soil + 20% chicken manure 4. T4 : 80% sandy soil + 20% sugarcane fibre 5. T5 : 80% sandy soil + 10% EFB compost + 10% sugarcane fibre 6. T6 : 80% sandy soil + 10% chicken manure + 10% sugarcane fibre 7. T7 : 80% sandy soil + 10% chicken manure + 10% EFB compost

Figure 1- Number of leaves of Stevia treated on the different treatments.

Plant Height (cm)

Plant Height of Stevia

C. Analytical Procedure The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (CRD) using 49 samples. The data were recorded based on height of plant, the number of leaves, diameter of stems for growth performance and fresh and dry weight of stevia leaves as to measure yield. Data collected were statistically analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) 17.

T1

50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0

T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7

Week of Planting

III.

Figure 2- Plant height of Stevia treated on the different treatments.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Number of leaves (Figure 1): The plants show continuously increase in number of leaves, except T3 (20% chicken manure) as the number of leaves increases up to week 3, but reduce its production until week 7. This graph indicates that Stevia grown on T7 (10% chicken manure + 10% EFB compost) medium has shown rapid increase in production of leaves since first week until week 10. Plant height (Figure 2): The plants show slightly increase in height from the first week of transplanting until the fifth week. After week six and above, most of the plants start to grow rapidly. However, Stevia grown on T7 (10% EFB compost + 10% chicken manure) medium result the highest plant height, followed by T5 (10% EFB compost + 10% sugarcane fibres) and T2 (20% EFB compost).

Figure 3- Stem diameter of Stevia treated on different treatments.

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http://www.ijsat.com TABLE 1: ANOVA BASED ON TREATMENTS.

Parameters No. of leaves

Value F df p F df p F df p

Plant height

Stem diameter

Diversity in Accessions of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni. International Journal of Biology.Vol.3.No. 3.

16.143 6 0.00 17.463 6 0.00 31.335 6 0.00

[2]

Afandi A., Sarijan S. and Shaha R. K. (2013). Optimization of rebaudiosidea Extraction from Stevia rebaudiana (bertoni) and Quantification by High Perfomance Liquid Chromatography Analysis. Journal of Tropical Resources and Sustainable Science ISSN: 2289-3946 Volume 1 Number 1, January 2013: 62-70.

[3]

Aladakatti Y. R., Palled Y. B., Chetti M. B., Halikatti S. I., Alagundagi S. C., Patil P.L., Patil V. C., and Janawade A. D. (2012). Effect of Nitrogen , Phosphorus, and Potassium Levels on Growth and Yield of Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni.)*. Karnataka J. Agric. Sci., 25 (1) : (2529).

[4]

Goyal S. K., Samsher and Goyal R. K. (2010). Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) a biosweetener :A Review. International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition. February 2010; 61(1): 1–10.

[5]

Homayouni Rad A, Delshadian Z, Arefhosseini SR, Alipour B, AsghariJafarabadi M. (2012). Effect of Inulin and Stevia on Some Physical Properties of Chocolate Milk. Health PromotPerspect 2012; 2(1): 42-47.

[6]

Liu X., Ren G. and Shi Y. (2011). The Effect of Organic Manure and Chemical Fertilizer on Growth and Development of Stevia rebaudianaBertoni. Energy Procedia 5 (2011) 1200 – 1204.

[7]

Megeji, N. W. et al. (2005). Introducing Stevia rebaudiana, A Natural Zero-Calorie Sweetener. Current Science, 88(5), 801 – 804.

[8]

Ranjan R., Jaiswal J., and Jena J. (2011). Stevia As a Natural Sweetener. International Journal of Research in Pharmacy and Chemistry 1(4). ISSN 2231 – 2781.

[9]

Yadav S. K. and Guleria P. (2012).Steviol Glycosides from Stevia: Biosynthesis Pathway Review and Their Applications in Foods and Medicines. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 52:11, 988-998, DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2010.519447.

[10]

Yang J., Liu X., and Shi Y. (2013). Effect of Different Mixed Fertilizer on Yield, Quality, and Economic Benefits in Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni.Advance Journal of Food Science and Technology 5(5): 588-591, 2013.

Figure 4- Weight of Stevia treated on different treatments.

Fresh leaves weight and dry leaves weight (Figure 4): Stevia planted on T7 (10% chicken manure + 10% EFB compost) record the highest fresh weight and dry leaves weight, while the lowest fresh weight and dry weight are recorded in treatment 4 (20% sugarcane fibre). IV.

CONCLUSION

Stevia grown on T1 (100% sandy soil) has better growth performance in term of plant height, stem size and leaves production compared to T4 (sandy soil + 20% sugarcane fiber). It due to nutrient content in sugarcane fiber is not sufficient for the plant growth. The findings show that suitable medium to plant Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is T7 (sandy soil + 10% EFB compost + 10% chicken manure) because it can supply enough nutrients for the growth ofplant height, stem diameter and leaves production. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors are grateful to management of Universiti Teknologi MARA, Negeri Sembilan for their constant support and encouragement. The financial support from Research Management Institute (RMI) for the Dana Kecemerlangan is highly appreciated.

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